My point exactly. Unless you vote for representatives who will regulate the health care and health care insurance industries in a way that does not allow them to penalize for pre-existing conditions. There is no "right" in the USA to health care or health care insurance {much less government paid for health care}. Just like there is no "right" to decent roads. You elect representative to look after the roads and you elect representatives to look after your interests pertaining to health care. If you do not want your representative to regulate health care, that is a choice too, it is just at the far end of the "less" regulation side of the spectrum.

I distinctly remember a time not that long ago when if you let your health insurance lapse and had a pre-existing condition (like diabetes or heart disease) you could be denied coverage. And not having any health insurance is what I would call "individual responsibility" in the extreme. {Unless you are a billionaire, getting ill without insurance can be a bankrupting event.} But then once you are indigent, health care is free again and all who can pay then pay this share. {Luckily there are not many of us here in the States who would openly say they would let their neighbors die for lack of medical care. And note, I did say not many. You do not need to stand up and be counted.}

Today - yes. In the past - no. In the future - you choose. Vote!

And, I agree, it is easy for the congress (little c) to gut health care when they have the best health care money can offer through our tax dollars.

It looks like an illustration. Cool!
Now it makes me wonder if one could do something similar with a properly exposed image.

Gracias

I think I may have seen those testicles hanging on the trailer hitch of a pickup truck the other day.

Is there a reason you did/do not like the union? It seems they did all right by you. Or have I missed the point?

I was able to get one of those Color Checker Passport folding cards bundled with the i1Display Pro when on sale at B&H. It is a very nice tool for streamlining workflow (for those who see some of it as work) when you have lots of images to correct. But I had an interesting failure of my use of the Passport. Apparently my capture of the gadget had some color clipping and the Lightroom plugin and the x-Rite software could not create the profile. I had to resort to just using Lightroom's White Balance dropper tool to get an approximation for starting. And that White Balance adjustment I was able to get from the Color Checker photo - so it was still of use. Next time more captures with different exposure levels for the Color Checker.

The OP was, I believe, asking about the Custom White Balance that one can usually set in camera by taking a picture of a grey card (not sure if 18% is right). If you are capturing in RAW then this is mainly for the JPEG display (though you can use the grey card shot for White Balance adjustment in Lightroom).

I am sure someone here has said what the correct grey card % is - well here is a link with a video on the gray card use.
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-265807-1.html
I have not been doing this long enough to know how much more effective the Color Checker Passport (or similar) might be over a simple gray card - others may chime in. But wait for it to go no sale. Gray cards are pretty cheap but the Color Checker by itself is $100 - bundled with the i1Display it was less than the usual cost of the i1Display alone.

With the awesome specs on your Dell Workstation I am surprised that you would balk at the price of a good monitor. It will tend to outlast your PC by a wide margin. Your NEC lasted 10 years and in that time you will have given Adobe $1000 for the use of the Photo Suite. And unless you need something Win 10 has that Win 7 doesn't I would not make that change.

Adobe software is able to use the GPU (graphics processing unit) on good graphics cards to offload some of the workload. On a Mac, Apple will provide those updates to the graphics drivers behind the scenes as part of OS updates or firmware updates. Windows may offer them as "Optional" and not "Critical" updates through Windows Updates. But Adobe will see the out of date driver on Windows and then suggest the update so that its software can use the new features.

Microsoft has learned not to push updates it does not control as it does not want to be blamed for what goes wrong. Apple has learned to control the whole process and just does it well.

Current promotions on Nikon at B&H (should be similar at Adorama and Cameta)
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/items/ci/35500/N/3540645240?utm_medium=Email%201644017&utm_campaign=Promotion&utm_source=InstantSavings%20170429&utm_content=Retail&utm_term=Nikon-Cameras

The D5500 is included in list.

I agree with your points on the inadvisability of moving your images using the OS. Once they are in Lightroom's catalog you should use Lightroom to move and/or copy them. But a well thought out folder structure managed in Lightroom makes some of the tasks you might do with the OS (like backing up your files) easier.

Your last sentence is the clincher for me - workflow and (hopefully) creativity.

Lightroom is purported to still have the cataloging functionality after you stop the subscription - if that is a concern. But since you already use the OS for management of your files, with some forethought on how you are going to use Lightroom you can set up your folders so that it makes sense even when viewing using the OS file viewer (Mac or Windows). And you get many nice filtering options with Lightroom - this allows searching based on Key Words and other attributes you can set on individual or groups of photos. Many books (and free videos tutorials) for Lightroom are available and Photoshop comes with it @ $10 per month.

Very nice. Would the translucence be more pronounced with a darker background? Interesting subjects.

Sorry- re-read the question and realized it was not about exposure bracketing. So, again I played with the GX85 and with an Auto ISO setting it seems to adjust the ISO to keep the exposure "correct" and with a fixed ISO it allows measured over and under exposures up to 3 stops using either the shutter or aperture dials. But I concede that is not a set and forget exposure compensation - but you are in Manual.

Linda, I just pulled out my GX85 and in M mode if you set the ISO to Auto it changes the ISO to bracket the exposure (based on your choices) but if you choose an ISO it brackets the exposure using the shutter speed. I guess that makes sense as changing the aperture would probably introduce some effects.